• collect any arguments for all major standpoints.
• continuously seek the most reliable and well-substantiated sources for each standpoint.
• avoid passive consumption; acquire data through targeted queries.
• treat dependent media primarily as a source for propaganda narratives and primary-source artifacts.
• verify claims using multiple independent sources.
• test sources on topics you know well.
• do not accept premises without evidence; claims of factuality, rationality, or neutrality are not evidence.
• distinguish fact, interpretation, and speculation.
• detect suggestive framing; assess susceptibility to omission or distortion.
• identify ad-hominem and ridicule replacing substantive argument.
• identify emotional appeals; periodically ask yourself what new information has just been provided.
• ask how material could be misleading.
• recognize that you are most easily fooled by yourself, and second most easily by sides you are biased to.
• recognize that humans are biased to believe they understand fully even when key information is missing.
• understand that gut feeling can be completely wrong for abstract or distant issues.
• understand opposing standpoints to be able to comprehend any standpoint.
• achieve competence in arguing each standpoint.
• limit trust in credentials to the process that confers them.
• consider avoidance of defense, dialogue, or questioning as a sign that claims may be indefensible.
• acknowledge the information domain as a battlespace alongside land, air, sea, and space.

• source evaluation: credibility, independence, transparency, authority
• bias detection: political, cultural, cognitive, commercial
• framing analysis: language choice, imagery, selection or omission of facts
• fact verification: cross-checking claims using independent and primary sources
• distinguishing content types: fact vs opinion, news vs advertising, reporting vs commentary
• propaganda recognition: intent, techniques, and context
• logical and rhetorical analysis: detecting fallacies, emotional appeals, false equivalences
• third-party influence awareness: how external actors shape, filter, or distort received information
• misinformation and disinformation identification: intentional vs unintentional falsehoods, manipulation tactics
• media production awareness: how stories are sourced, edited, and distributed
• audience analysis: recognizing how different audiences interpret the same content

• mockutainment: media presenting itself in informative formats but primarily aiming to entertain through ridicule, often framing issues for mockery at the expense of depth or accuracy.

• highlights certain facts while omitting others, creating bias through selective omission

  • reporting on falling unemployment while omitting that the definition of "employed" was recently changed
  • cropping a photo to exclude people or objects that change the meaning of the scene

• misleads about timing by presenting old stories as new or collapsing timelines for effect

  • reposting last year's flood photos as if they were from a current storm
  • implying two separate events happened on the same day

• uses numbers and statistics without proper context, creating false impressions

  • citing a percentage increase without noting the small base rate
  • using absolute figures without population-adjusted comparisons

• quotes experts or sources selectively to support a preferred narrative

  • quoting only the most pessimistic forecast from a panel of scientists
  • citing one sentence from a report while ignoring its main conclusion

• creates false connections or trends from unrelated or isolated events

  • linking unrelated crimes to suggest a crime wave
  • portraying one extreme weather event as proof of a permanent climate shift

• gives equal airtime to unequal arguments, implying false equivalence

  • giving a fringe conspiracy theory the same coverage as peer-reviewed science
  • debating verified facts as if still unsettled

• reduces complex moral situations to black-and-white judgments

  • portraying a policy debate as purely good vs evil
  • framing a nuanced conflict as heroes vs villains

• focuses on individual actors instead of examining underlying systems or structures

  • blaming a crisis solely on one politician while ignoring institutional failures
  • spotlighting one ceo as the cause of industry-wide problems

• diverts attention from important but complex issues to trivial or emotionally satisfying ones

  • covering a celebrity scandal instead of legislative changes
  • focusing on an animal rescue during a major political crisis

• reports what audiences want to hear instead of what is most relevant in context

  • tailoring headlines to confirm political biases
  • emphasizing local sports wins over major international news

• manipulates emotion to drive engagement, through exaggeration, drama, or urgency

  • framing a rare event as "on the rise"
  • "breaking" labels for routine developments

• uses vague or suggestive language to imply without clearly stating

  • "some say" or "it is believed" without attribution

  • hinting at wrongdoing without evidence

wikipedia

• disinformation
• fear, uncertainty, and doubt